Good morning I like to welcome you to morrow Baptist churches morning
as we celebrate Palm Sunday Jesus to Drusilla
thank you for coming
lets pray gracious lord we are so grateful and excited to be in your house today
once again all of the things that it takes to get us into this room the
distractions and the things that pull us from your attention Father we pray right
now baby removed the Holy Spirit move among us that as we sing and shout
the hosannas that we're also reminded of the sacrifice of the cup take us through
the service Philis with your spirit as well as your grace and your mercy and your
love we pray.
The in. The in.
The and
through.
Please stand for
a call to worship. Rejoice
greatly old god of Zion the people of Zion shout in triumph O.-P.
Pull of Drucilla him look your King is coming to you he is righteous and victorious
yet he is humble riding on a donkey even on
a donkey's colt you
are our God and we will praise you.
Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good.
At this time has already started the children will be passing out palms to us and
then we will fall that by singing him number one so
.
I am.
The next day the quake that had come. That
they will haul that T.V.'s on hands it's way too blue they took. Out
me and shouted. Blessed is is he who comes in the name of the Lord
bless ye last is the king of. I. Did that
fairly young donkey and so on. We're Do not be afraid to order.
Shielding is coming soon all I don't. Cope foresee his
desire both in the understand. That only after Jesus was
loved by. DAVID They realize that these things had been written about them
and that the. Ghost.
Of the.
I am.
Getting.
Leave.
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good his love endures forever let Israel say.
Let the house of Aaron say. Let those who fear the Lord say.
Open for me the gates of the righteous I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
Say. I will give you thanks for you
answered me You have become my salvation.
oh
Oh
.
Oh oh. Oh.
Oh. Oh.
mother Oh mother
.
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone the Lord has done this
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Lord save us Lord grant us six.
With bows in hand join in the festive procession
a little horns of the altar. You are my God and I will praise you you are my God
and I will exalt you. Are you.
You
you.
Love
. Love.
You.
Lol.
Must.
Lol.
But.
Let us pray. Father we thank you that we come into your house more
to the highest place pray that should be with us this week as we travel the road
we thank you for the sacrifice and for the suffering that you are our
present should be with us through the rest of this keep our hearts and
at this time the ushers will come back
with.
A spray Gracious Lord once again we gather as your children come before you
corporately to pray to ask for
a very specific set of needs that we have learned as we as we lift those in just
a moment we open ourselves up to the many needs that we have that we're completely
unaware of Lord we pray for your guidance and your wisdom in exposing areas in our
lives where we need you more where we need to crave you and to see you to study you
and to chase after you look sometimes in our litany of things that are going on our
life we forget to ask for that and so father if if that is not
a desire on our heart that is natural then Lord we pray for it to be so pray for
hunger for you unlike no other lord as we
stand on this side of Holy Week give us strength to walk through it it is
courage to merit in wisdom allow it to be
not a week of guilt and shame but
a week of Revelation and week we can draw closer to you and to see Jesus which you
did and took on in the cross. And Lord as we again
stand on this side of Easter we know that the resurrection is coming and we know
that though that doesn't eradicate death and pain in our world we know that it
gives it new meaning so we lift up those in our congregation in our community who
are who are suffering right now who are in pain and who are in trial and feel as if
they have been struggling with it for hours and for days and for years Lord we pray
for cycles to be broken pray for chains to be taken off
we pray for healing and miracles in ways that we don't even have the words to begin
to articulate We pray for families to be restored we pray for relationships to be
renewed we pray for habits and addictions to be broken we pray for sin Lord to be
scattered and we pray for an awareness in our lives of our need for you
know we lift up our world we pray for the Syrian refugees we pray for the children
and the men and women who are dealing with the aftermath of five years of violence
in an area in the world who are dealing with illness and
with pain that is sometimes beyond our comprehension and I we pray for our world
and our immediate context in our community in our country pray for ways Lord that
we can display your love and your wisdom not your hate not anger but
that she teaches how to build bridges Father and God we pray for those in our
congregation we lift up to graze sour walled we lifted you Marguerite we thank you
for the turn that Marguerite has taken just the excitement back in her life and now
we pray for Glenn pray for his transition from the hospital to
a new place we pray for those who have many of prayer requests Lord that we have
not mentioned but we know that you know we ask you to open our eyes and in our
hearts to people who are sitting beside us who are walking beside us you need the
we pray for revival in our own lives and in the. We ask all of these
things and your name is we pray the prayer that you've taught us to pray Our Father
who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done
On earth as give us this day our daily bread and forgive
us our debt as we forgive her and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil for that is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever. To stand up and greet when another this might
.
The Earth.
A. Blow.
Dryer on the land.
A. Whole lot.
More of. A
move. To. A
man. Man A.
Was.
Mark six forty five three fifty six immediately Jesus made his disciples
get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd
after leaving he went out on the mountainside to pray later that night the boat was
in the middle of the lake and he was alone on land he saw that the disciples
straining at the oars because the wind was against them shortly before dawn when
out to them walking on the lake he was about to pass by them but when they saw him
walking on the lake they thought he was
a ghost they cried out because all because they all saw him and they were terrified
immediately he spoke to them and said Take courage decide Don't be afraid then he
climbed in the boat with them and the wind died down they were completely amazed
for they had not understood about the loads their hearts were hardened. When they
crossed over they landed at dinner set and anchored there as soon as they got out
of the boat people recognize Jesus they ran through that whole region and carried
the sick on maps to wherever they heard he was and wherever he went into villages
towns or countryside they place the sick in the marketplace they begged him to let
them touch even the edge of his cloak and all who touched it were here this is the
Word of God For the Word of God for the people
so
a reminder as we go into Holy Week that every day this week
will have devotionals that seven am So from seven to seven thirty will meet
downstairs and have devotionals Liz is going to do one of our I will pick up the
measurements to go with Liz from the college your Wednesday rate so anybody wants
to go up. But then we have the devotional the week we have Monte Thursday on
Thursday night starting at seven in here in service of communion and then there's
a Good Friday service in town and then
a bar Sunday starting at six thirty in the morning at Harley Bryce's house
so last me when I talked about the description of Jesus Christ one of our questions
for Lent has been how would we describe Jesus if we were asked someone comes up to
you and says How would you describe Jesus what would you say and last week I said
what about as people kind of chuckled I know right that would be awesome
people kind of chuckled and giggled and said whatever but think about it Jesus had
superpowers right he had miracles he performs probably all of his life we haven't
recorded from when he started ministry but for
a long time in his life. He was able to raise the dead he was able to heal the sick
he was able to preach with authority and teach with authority to rebuke demons and
in the story that precedes what Caroline just read he's able to multiply food. So
what's the difference between
a superhero in the Son of God and major distinction is that the only time Jesus did
any miracle or any healing was to reveal who he was as
every miracle every feeling pointed people to God So let's set the
context of a U.
Turn up and keep open your Bibles to Mark Potter six set the context for our story
today Caroline just read the walking on water what precedes that story is the
miracle of the feeding of the five thousand give you little context so Jesus has
just fed five thousand people in the day in time of Jesus we all know this but it's
probably worth saying they did not have supermarkets they did not have street carts
there were no taco stand so if you were out you packed
a lunch and in the feeding of the five thousand they've been out for hours and
hours and hours and so the disciples were like Look just send them home and Jesus
says no no no I'll feed them and so he takes five loaves of this one smart little
boy has and he kept and two fish and you multiplies it and he feeds the five
thousand the mark tells us as soon as that miracle is Dime immediately
Jesus asked to decide and I told you that Mark loves action words immediately he
loves immediately so what the urgency Jesus kicks the disciples out is at the
height of his career at this moment people are excited they just were fed this
miraculous feeding of the five thousand and Jesus quickly gets rid of the disciples
and sends them off ahead to best Saida and stays back first forty six tells us the
reason Jesus days back is he wants to be alone to pray so what's going on here was
going on here is the feed in the five thousand has been the pinnacle of Jesus'
miraculous career in the eyes of the pup. This is the apex this is where the fever
pitch for Jesus has reached an all time excitement and high and Jesus has
had already
a reputation drug Galilee of healing of miracles people are starting to see the
disciples in the name of Jesus Christ being able to teach and unable to do the
miracles and so then this miracle happens and it reaches fever pitch and people are
enthusiastic how enthusiastic are they this is the one miracle other than the
resurrection that's recorded in all four of the Fianna five thousand and the
resurrection are the only two miracles recorded in John in Matthew in Mark and
John's Gospel tells us that people are so enthusiastic after this Miracle Cat I
mean this miracle duplication of
a catch of the fish in the loaves that they want to make jesus their leader
a team that's in John six fourteen and fifteen they want Jesus to take over he
They've already seen that Jesus has miraculous super powers in healing and they've
seen that he can raise the dead and now with this they realize that he can feed
them for the rest of their life what is better than and so they want you just to be
king they want him to start
a revolt or revolution to start of who they want to overturn Herod and all the
other petty highroad Ians that are all over Galilee in Judea set up by Rome they
want Jesus to be
a superhero Only Jesus has no intention of starting
a revolt or rebellion or being the author of a coup or being
a super hero Jesus have any of those plans because God has different plans for
Jesus God has
a singular purpose for Jesus and Jesus understands which brings us to the wind in
the story so Jesus sends the disciples on ahead. And has them get in the boat which
by the way is never good when ever the disciples are way from Jesus there's always
calamity it's like that silence we all joke about of his parents when you know if
something has just happened usually in our house it's followed by Tobin coming and
going I am big trouble big trouble with green I seen all over his face every time
the disciples are wavering Jesus they get into trouble is so Jesus has sent them
into a very specific situation he sent them into
a storm this is in the storm like on shout in chapter four with their life this
threatened this is that is kind of like the wind out of control they're on the lake
they're trying to head to Bethsaida wind is against them and they are struggling
Scripture tells us they've been struggling until from about six o'clock at night
until about three to six in the morning they've been at this for nine hours
OK So obvious question time what is this about why in the world would Jesus
leave this reception and this height of popularity and get the disciples off and
send them into
a place where they will be struggle lean against strong wind for nine hours of I
may to reasons Jesus did the setting up the difference between
a superhero and the Son of God and he setting up the difference between Palm Sunday
and Good Friday saying of the difference being the Son of God and
a superhero insane of the difference between Palm Sunday and Good Friday so let's
start with separating
a superhero from the Son of God who does not love rate in our house
Avengers Justice League all over the place the problem is we don't need
a super hero we need
a savior and what's the diff The difference is who's in charge with the Save
here God is the one directing and so there's some things in this passage that
reveal that Jesus is in fact the Son of God Look at verse forty eight.
He says he saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against
skip on to be
a forty eight and he was about to pass by them. Walking on water Jesus
walks on water to get out to the deceased which is incredibly confusing I said to
you last week that one of the one miracles other than the resurrection that I fear
people have the hardest time grasping is Jesus walking on water and I showed it to
you last week that that's the one miracle that I've heard over and over again
people say even if you didn't do it I'll still believe in Jesus and the reason we
have
a hard time with this is because it is beyond our understanding how anyone could
walk on water you know why because no one walks on water Scripture tells us that
only God Himself walks on water job nine eight says God alone stretches out the
heavens and he alone treads on the waves only God can walk on water see we get to
this point we say Who is this as walking on water that's the point this is
a rebel Tory descriptive statement of Jesus Christ the fact that he is walking on
water is he is separating himself from anybody else because only God can walk on
water but not only that you know that causes them to say who like anybody else
but then he's about to pass them by what is that they've been struggling
for nine hours that is just cruel I read a blog commentary one time from
a really well known pastor who said Well Jesus wasn't going to save them but then
he had empathy for them and turned around and saved them now I know that if we
don't understand what it means to pass by then we miss with this passage is that
the concept of passing by Exodus Chapter thirty three
a priest on this last year the idea of passing by is
a revolutionary statement of God and he is giving himself
a description for us to. See remember when Moses says to God I want more of you I
want to see you and God says you can't see me because nobody can see me on this
side of heaven because he's so holy So what does he say I will put you in the cleft
of
a rock and I will pass by and I will cover you with my hand until I pass by and when
I pass by three times a bar in that sentence when I pass by you will see my glory
a bar is the root word is the he brake translation of it with the pronominal suffix
mix OK So what does that mean that is
a rebel the Tory statement with Jesus where God is same by saying I'll pass by he's
about to reveal Himself will use three times in all of the Old Testament with that
means is it's
a huge leap first God says to allies to get up on that horrible I'm about to pass
by I'm about to reveal what I am when Jesus does this the
Greek word root word Parag go and it's translated in verse forty eight per my is
the Greek equivalent of that he break bird bar so what Jesus is
doing by walking on water is setting himself up in a distinction
a descriptive term he is God But when he is about to pass them by he's showing that
he is revealing himself as God It is
a revolution Tory language of God statement no God Jesus doesn't change his mind OK
he's not debating whether or not to save them he'll save them in
a minute with the storm but that's not the point of the story the point of the
story is the disciples see who Jesus is hold that tension for
a second because the only way they see who he is is because they're in
a position of struggling the only way they see him walk on water the only way they
see him reveal who he is as God incarnate is because they are on the boat to begin
with there's tension there. They don't see Jesus passed
by with the miracle of the fish and the loaves Why is that because as difficult as
it is the crystalline and beautiful truth about Jesus Christ is the miracles of
blessing will never reveal Jesus the way the miracles of and the miracles of
blessing what will be revealed is that we want to superhero to sweep in and save us
but in the miracles of need we recognize that we have
a Savior who stands beside and he doesn't just
reveal himself with the passing and by what happens later they're still struggling
and they see Jesus and of course they don't get it Mark tells us that they don't
understand they think he's
a ghost and what does Jesus say his. Ego
in my in Greek which translates to the he broke concept of
member when Jesus when Moses stands before the burning bush Exodus three four and
he says to God whom I supposed to say send me because Barrow is not going to
believe any of this what does God say Tell him I am sent when Jesus is saying as he
gets in the boat with them and to not be afraid if he's revealing the name of God
as himself he is saying I am incarnate Why
what are the kids just see every fear has no place at the sound of your grade
when Jesus sits in that boat and he says I am is here you recognize that it is not
so important to get through the storm as would Jesus is saying in the storm the
presence of I Am is with you in the storm this is setting them up for the cross he
said in them up for what's going to take place when he is the furthest from them to
recognize that the presence of I am resides with Jesus saying this revelled or his
statement is that the God who created the heavens and the earth the God who parted
the sea the God who rescued the Israel lights. Is with him in that store
and what Marcus say is when you put all of this together what he's showing us about
Jesus Christ is that he is the great i am he's saying to us that as
Moses freed people from Israel and the from Egypt Christ is doing so much more he's
even better than before he is the great I am OK
but I didn't really think
I did great I did I mean as not
a blasphemous Dave and I'm not saying I never thought he was
a Son of God but I'm willing to admit that I had the very least hoped he was
a superhero I may not be very frank with you I have no desire to struggle for
nine hours with the wind in my face I don't want to know that the presence of God
is with me in a storm I want to know that there is no storm I told you
a couple weeks ago you know the net that I don't want to drop is going to be
uncomfortable and there is nothing that makes me more uncomfortable than to know
that the disciples struggled for nine out worse and Jesus was in view who
does that the Son of God who is far more interested in
revealing himself than in being reviewed as you can see
a superhero would sweep in save you son of God would reveal himself but then
there's
a separation between Palm Sunday and the cross look at verses fifty one and fifty
two they don't get it Mark says they've witnessed the miracle of the
fish and the lows and now they see Jesus walking on water and sitting beside them
in the boat in the don't get it their hearts Mark said are hard and that means in
Hebrew is their mind is set against
a particular paradigm and they don't understand what has happened they they see
Jesus passing by they see the walking on water they've seen him do all of these
miracles but they still don't grasp who he is why
in Good Friday they they see specific paradigm of what they want to see in Jesus
Christ. And it takes the great I am sitting beside them and they still don't open
their minds to what is really taking place that's why Mark doesn't have them going
into best data and Jesus doesn't have them going into best data you notice that
their original destination is best data but they don't land there for
a couple more chapters they get into off course and they land into another town and
what Mark juxtaposed is the reaction of the people in that town with faith then
what the people of the disciples of the disciples don't understand
doing why because their hearts are hardened why because their minds are set to
a certain paradigm why because they want Jesus to be the savior that everybody else
on Palm Sunday wants Jesus to be you know the reason there's
a fever pitch in the miracle of the fish in the loaves is because Jesus is doing
what people want him to do and you gotta believe that day on the mountain when
Jesus walks down after the fish in the loaves he knows that from down hill it's
just going to be that is going to be an unraveling of people's expectations because
he is not going to be the king that they want him to be and you have to believe
that on that day as he rode into Jerusalem as the palms were thrown at his feet
like you would
a returning key or hero you gotta believe the disciples were silently hoping.
He does the savior in the immediate But Jesus knew better than anybody that we
don't need a savior in the immediate need
a savior for all the disciples don't
get it any more than the people don't get on Palm Sunday because you
have expectations of what they Jesus came for when see
nothing was more difficult than to believe that Jesus walked on water is to believe
that Jesus came for that one singular purpose and he doesn't waver no matter what
people. The temptation on that mountain after the fish and the loaves to be
a king to be
a superhero to be something that he was never supposed to be he alludes that
temptation and goes into prayer you know was even harder to believe then the
walking on water and the singular purpose is the idea that I need
a Savior that I need to have somebody come not
me being in but for all time but imagine the description
in this story when Jesus is saying as he sits beside them is the Great I Am is with
you at all times with this says and description is the Jesus is never going to stop
revealing himself he's never going to stop chasing us he's never going to stop
trying to have us get to know who he is and I think that's the biggest difference
between Palm Sunday and Good Friday the revelation because you don't really see
Jesus you don't really know Jesus unless you understand the OK so here's the
temptation the temptation for each and every one of us in this room is going to be
to go from today until next Sunday and the nor the cross the
temptation is to do what the people who put Holmes down on him and to have our
minds and our hearts set against that paradigm and to say it's children of the
resurrection we know the end of the story who needs to go through that but unless
we face the cross we really can't understand and see that Revelation of Jesus
Christ because Jesus sitting in the boat that
day with those decide knows of the same power of God who call him The wind
is the same power because the storm and Jesus knows the only way to face that storm
is to go through the clouds there is something so. And so horrific about that
knowledge of
a standing in front of it that we want to and avoid that all together but the
revelation happens when we stand face to face with the cross and see what Jesus.
Bonhoeffer said in letters from prison that that it doesn't take
a powerful God Actually it takes say
a week God willing to give up his power to save us the Cross really splits
the world you don't look at the cross and you see it as power or you look at the
cross and you see it as foolishness Paul says that to first Corinthians that those
who are Parisyan see the cross is foolish those who are being saved are so I'm
going to put on my honest cap to have that temptation to avoid
a Good Friday to go Easter Sunday to east and avoid it entirely be that
brutality because in avoiding that brutality then I also get to avoid the fact
that I have those sins or that I aided in putting him on
but the great good news of Jesus Christ is that death doesn't go away because of
the cross it gets to be redefined and so that tension I told you to hold of of
being in a situation where you're struggling the most and at the same time you get
a revelation of Jesus Christ you never would have gotten had you not been on that
boat is the same thing as we scanned the resignation of my own sin
and the miracle of
a God who loved me enough to die at the greatest miracle is the resurrection the
greatest healing that our
gracious God remind us as we hear the final words today minus of your sacrifice
minus of what it means to be children of the resurrection and remind us Lord what
it means to to see you revealed for who you are crap.
To close us
a reading from Philippians two verses five through eleven your attitude should be
the same as that of who being in very nature God did not consider equal
with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing taking the very nature of
a servant he made in human likeness and being found in appearance as
a man He humbled himself to death even death and across before God
exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name
that at the name of Jesus every name should bow in heaven and honor and under and
under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is glory of God the
Father
is turning your head.
Yes.
I am.
Reminder that if you desire prayer there are two deacons settlement right over
there after this or let's pray Gracious Lord guide us out now into your world not
a spectators but fully engaged in the world around us living and loving people so
that we are reflective if you know we ask these things you name.
The for
. Us.